Above: The stage is set... for a new era in Open tennis
Above: Frank, Michelle and Ben
Above: Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne city in the background. We watched a "legends" doubles match here: Henri Le Conte and Mark Phillipousis playing Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom. In my view, Melbourne should be the permanent home of the Olympics and every other major sporting event. I can't think of, or don't know of another major city which has its magnificent sporting venues so close to the city and the lovely river setting. And with efficient, free public transport (tram shuttles) to move tens of thousands of people in a matter of minutes.
Above: Serena Williams serves to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka couldn't complete the match due to illness, so Williams won 3-6 (yes, she lost the first set) 4-2
Above: Victoria Azarenka serves
Above: Rod Laver Arena and Garden Square
Above: French supporters in Garden Square, wearing their flag cape-style in the best tradition of Australia Day flag-wearing jingoism (taken on Australia Day, 26 January)
Above and Below: Melbourne Park and the Yarra from the Grand Hyatt 19th floor
Above: Rafael Nadal (Spain) serves to Fernando Gonzales of Chile
Above: Nadal has a habit of pulling at the back of his shorts, as if his undies don't fit right. Some suggested Pat Rafter, who adorns buses and trams selling Bonds "Very Comfy Undies" should have a word to him.
Above: Fernando Conzales goes for a shot.
Above: Line umpires and 1.5 ball kids. for every match there is a chair umpire, 9 line umpires and 6 ball kids. I expect no less next time we take to the court at
Malua Bay.
Above: Part of the crowd in Rod Laver Arena
Above: Jim Courier, who commentates for the Australian broadcast talks to Nadal after his win over Gonzales. No use being shy of the media if you're a tennis superstar. It's part of the deal.
Above: This building is a gym complex opposite the tennis centre, but in 1956 it was the Olympic Swimming complex. The pool eventually leaked and was taken out. A new international aquatic centre was built in another part of Melbourne.
Above: The Players Box near where we sat. It got occupied by Tsonga's contingent.
Above and Below:
Wendy Turnbull, former Australian chammpion of the 1970s and 80s, and World No 3 was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day. A bust is made of each inductee and displayed in the grounds. She was 3 times runner-up in Grand Slam singles events, and a four time doubles winner (11 times runner-up), 5 times Mixed Doubles winner (1 time runner-up).
Above: French supporters in the crowd cheering on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga beat American James Blake in this fourth round match.
Above: Tsonga on court
Above: Jim Courier interviews Tsonga after his win.
Above: The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) opposite.
Above: "Our" court - Court 4 where we had a hit between 8.30 and 9.30 am on Tuesday. Ben serves.
Above: Our fans Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) and Ai Sugiyama (Japan) came down to watch and just because Hantuchova has her back to us and her people are all absorbed in their own world doesn't mean we didn't put on a dazzling display....of incompetence.
Above and Below: The only one looking anything like the real deal was Ben. It cost me a lot of money to make sure he could look this good on a tennis court.
Above: Hantuchova and Sugiyama on court winning against Cara Black (Zimbabwe) and Liezel Huber (USA). We thought we could perhaps offer some tips on play....
Above: Serena and Venus Williams, who won against Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) and Shuai Peng (China) in 3 sets. They weren't listening to us early on.
Above: Venus Williams
Above: Michelle and Ben mull over the two days' events in Garden Square.
Above: The stage is set... for a new era in Open tennis
Above: Frank, Michelle and Ben
Above: Margaret Court Arena and Melbourne city in the background. We watched a "legends" doubles match here: Henri Le Conte and Mark Phillipousis playing Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom. In my view, Melbourne should be the permanent home of the Olympics and every other major sporting event. I can't think of, or don't know of another major city which has its magnificent sporting venues so close to the city and the lovely river setting. And with efficient, free public transport (tram shuttles) to move tens of thousands of people in a matter of minutes.
Above: Serena Williams serves to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka couldn't complete the match due to illness, so Williams won 3-6 (yes, she lost the first set) 4-2
Above: Victoria Azarenka serves
Above: Rod Laver Arena and Garden Square
Above: French supporters in Garden Square, wearing their flag cape-style in the best tradition of Australia Day flag-wearing jingoism (taken on Australia Day, 26 January)
Above and Below: Melbourne Park and the Yarra from the Grand Hyatt 19th floor
Above: Rafael Nadal (Spain) serves to Fernando Gonzales of Chile
Above: Nadal has a habit of pulling at the back of his shorts, as if his undies don't fit right. Some suggested Pat Rafter, who adorns buses and trams selling Bonds "Very Comfy Undies" should have a word to him.
Above: Fernando Conzales goes for a shot.
Above: Line umpires and 1.5 ball kids. for every match there is a chair umpire, 9 line umpires and 6 ball kids. I expect no less next time we take to the court at Malua Bay.
Above: Part of the crowd in Rod Laver Arena
Above: Jim Courier, who commentates for the Australian broadcast talks to Nadal after his win over Gonzales. No use being shy of the media if you're a tennis superstar. It's part of the deal.
Above: This building is a gym complex opposite the tennis centre, but in 1956 it was the Olympic Swimming complex. The pool eventually leaked and was taken out. A new international aquatic centre was built in another part of Melbourne.
Above: The Players Box near where we sat. It got occupied by Tsonga's contingent.
Above and Below: Wendy Turnbull, former Australian chammpion of the 1970s and 80s, and World No 3 was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day. A bust is made of each inductee and displayed in the grounds. She was 3 times runner-up in Grand Slam singles events, and a four time doubles winner (11 times runner-up), 5 times Mixed Doubles winner (1 time runner-up).
Above: French supporters in the crowd cheering on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga beat American James Blake in this fourth round match.
Above: Tsonga on court
Above: Jim Courier interviews Tsonga after his win.
Above: The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) opposite.
Above: "Our" court - Court 4 where we had a hit between 8.30 and 9.30 am on Tuesday. Ben serves.
Above: Our fans Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) and Ai Sugiyama (Japan) came down to watch and just because Hantuchova has her back to us and her people are all absorbed in their own world doesn't mean we didn't put on a dazzling display....of incompetence.
Above and Below: The only one looking anything like the real deal was Ben. It cost me a lot of money to make sure he could look this good on a tennis court.
Above: Hantuchova and Sugiyama on court winning against Cara Black (Zimbabwe) and Liezel Huber (USA). We thought we could perhaps offer some tips on play....
Above: Serena and Venus Williams, who won against Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) and Shuai Peng (China) in 3 sets. They weren't listening to us early on.
Above: Venus Williams
Above: Michelle and Ben mull over the two days' events in Garden Square.
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